Trinseo 'evaluating' certain German rubber assets

BERWYN, Pa.—Trinseo has initiated a consultation process with employee representatives to review the future of some of its rubber operations in Germany.

The consultation, which Trinseo Deutschland started in March, includes the possible shutdown of the group's styrene monomer plant in Boehlen and the mothballing of its polybutadiene rubber (nickel and neodymium-PBR) unit in Schkopau, the company said in an April 2 statement to European Rubber Journal.

According to the company, the combined adjusted EBITDA of the proposed operations came in at negative $14.6 million in the year 2019.

The Boehlen site in eastern Germany has the capacity to produce 300,000 metric tons per year of styrene monomer, according to Trinseo.

However, average production over the past three years has been at the 200,000 ton mark, due to several factors, including upstream supply issues.

In 2019, production at the unit was at 150,000 tons, reflecting the unplanned outages, Trinseo said in a statement.

The polybutadiene rubber line in Schkopau has capacity of approximately 30,000 tons.

The unit was Trinseo's nickel butadiene rubber production train, which was converted in late 2017 to manufacture Nd-BR.

Trinseo said it remains committed to its other operations at the Schkopau site, including polystyrene, SSBR and ESBR.

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